Acatenango Volcano hike

Bit of catching up to do as I haven't had a chance to edit photos or update blog.

On February 5th Laura and I did an overnight hike to the top of Acatenango Volcano.  There are three volcanoes surrounding Antigua, Acatenango, Fuego and Anitgua.  While they all have a recent history of eruptions, only Fuego is active and puts on a daily show of poofing smoke or the really awesome show of shooting red hot rocks into the air before the cascade down the side of the mountain.   At 13,044 feet, Acatenango is no walk in the park, with altitude sickness being a real possibility. Navigating is quite easy, you only need to look up to see where to go.

There were 12 people in our group, along with Ben our guide and a security guard.  There were a few smart  people in our group that hired porters to carry their stuff up, while we strapped to our backs all the food, water, clothing and shelter needed for the overnight stay.  After yet another fabulous cramped micro bus ride through washboard country roads, we started hiking at 9:00 AM.  We started out walking up through agricultural fields of Peas, Lilly's and of course Maize, continuing on through the "cloud forest' before breaking through the treeline where stopped for lunch before the final few hours to the top.

Acatenango offers a special deal, two for one craters at the top, meaning there are two cones at the top where lava has spilled out in the past. The downside to this is the brief feeling of relief when finally cresting the top of the first cone is quickly diminished when you look across about 200 yards and realize the actual top of the mountain is another 1000 feet up. Oye ve!

Nonetheless, made it to the top successfully and were greeted with a spectacular 360 degree view that made it feel like I was on top of the world.  After quickly setting up camp in the center of the cone, everyone made their way towards the top edge to watch the Fuego fireworks.  At 13,000 feet it was cold and windy and when the sun went down, it got very cold but again were treated to great views of the stars.



And that was it really, after watching some good explosions of Fuego, went to sleep in the center of a volcano on a bed of lava rocks.   The creature comforts of home are not a priority on this trek. 

Photos